Week 41 Around Here {2019}

{Can you spot Ramona?}

Escaping... parenting for a weekend, leaving the kids with Josh's parents so we could get away and celebrate our belated 16th wedding anniversary.  The weekend was absolutely lovely.  We spent nearly all of it in our hotel room, watching TV, reading, sleeping, eating and napping.  It was exactly what we needed after a crazy summer prepping the house for sale; moving; and then starting the school year. I am so grateful we were able to do that.

Reading... Fahrenheit 451 and We Are Okay while Josh and I were away for the weekend, holed up in a hotel with my husband.  It was so luxurious to be able to read entire books without interruption.  I loved Fahrenheit 451 and want to watch the movie next.  We Are Okay was just an okay read for me. It didn't feel like a well developed novel and I was left wanting.
 I also read about #6 Enneagrams in The Wisdom of the Enneagram over the weekend have been listening to The Quintland Sisters, a story about the Dionne quintuplets, five identical babies born to a couple in Canada in 1934.  (Can you even imagine? Five?!?)
Later this week I started The Farm, which was not what I thought it would be (I was imagining a book more like The Handmaid's Tale), but that I have enjoyed nonetheless.

Receiving... the second of Elin Hilderbrand's new winter series.  I got the first, Winter in Paradise, last year, but never read it, and the second, What Happens In Paradise, was just released.  So I am making my reading lists for November and December, excited for the chance to read them back to back.  Her previous winter series (Winter Street series) is one of my favorites of all time.  I highly recommend it.

Impressed... by Wyatt's running at school during Junior Joggers.  In the past he would barely eke out two laps, hating every minute.  But since joining wrestling and doing all the training they do, he's been running up to 6 laps during Junior Joggers, feeling pumped and so proud of himself.

Making... homemade tortillas this week and loving Carly's help.  She is such a little helper in all areas.  One day this week I made graham crackers with chocolate frosting for snack and before I got downstairs after her nap, she had gotten plates down for everyone and was passing out snacks for when brother's got home from school.  That little sweetheart. {swoon}

Taking... Wyatt to the dentist (no cavaties- yay!) and feeling proud of how far Carly has come as she took the hygenist's offer to sit in the big chair and help with Wyatt's treatment. I feel like the more exposure she has to the dentist and all their tools, the more comfortable she will continue to become.  Wyatt was also a great example of cool calm and I'm so grateful for that!

Laughing... when Jack emptied a glue stick so he could fill it with Starburst candies to make it look like he was eating glue.  I don't think I will ever fully understand middle schoolers.

Shaking... my head as Wyatt drug his backpack down the walkway, across the driveway and to the bus stop on Monday because he was grumpy.  I was stifling a smile because #monday. I feel you, kid.

Decorating... for Halloween and loving Carly's enthusiasm for every single detail.  She exclaimed over every spider, pumpkin and leaf; and when Josh got home she said, "Dad! You HAVE to see this!" and took his hand and lead him upstairs to show him the spooky things in her room.  Soo cute!

Hosting... our old neighbor kids for a playdate and dinner on Wednesday.  We were all so happy to spend some quality time with Cristian and Coral after months apart. Oh, how we miss having them across the street! Thankfully their mom and I have stayed in touch and have made plans to get the kids together a little more often. They are the sweetest kids and the best family.

Happy... that the twins have art club after school once a week.  Jack is in art this quarter and he loves it, but it doesn't come naturally to him. So that extra time in the classroom with the teacher is helpful.  And Logan loves it, so it's win/win!

Understanding... Carly's heart when she wants all the brothers to read bedtime stories with her each night.  That said, it's sure frustrating when they are showering/brushing/getting ready for bed and I just want to lay her down and she's all, "I want brothers! I want us all TOGETHER."
So there has been a lot of bedtime stories together as a family, especially now that all the Halloween books are out for the season.

Sharing... a goodbye dinner with my girlfriend Jolene who is moving to Alaska with her husband and four girls in a month's time.  I am going to miss her so much and am so grateful for the friendship she has provided me during the three years we have lived here together.  She has taught me how to be a better friend.

Surprised... by the early deep freeze we had and staring at the sprinklers I drove past on the way to drop Carly off at Grandma's.  The length of the icicles on them was insane!

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Week 39 Around Here {2019}

{Rock Paper Scissors at the vet with Jack}

Painting... two of our three bathrooms on Saturday while Josh had the kids at the land with his parents and brother.  I started with the downstairs bathroom which had been a color called pumpkin marshmallow.  I painted it a soothing green-ish color called Breezeway by Behr, and I love the result.  When we paint the trim, it's going to look really sharp in there.
Then I moved on to our master bedroom, which I painted Chic Grey (also by Behr) which is the same color as our entire downstairs and my master bedroom.  It looks SO good in there, and I am super pleased that I took the time to do those two rooms.  All I have left to paint is Carly's room and the kids' bathroom.  Fingers crossed I can get to them before we host Thanksgiving!

Entertaining... Carly while I painted with the cheapest Amazon entertainment out there.  These water beads are the coolest (all three boys also played with them when they got home) and Carly played independently with them for hours. It's only $5.99 for a bag FULL of rainbow colored tiny beads, and I used maybe 1/5 of what I have to fill that gallon bag with water beads. The directions are super easy (1 tsp of beads to 3 cups of water, I believe) and they continue to grow over an 8 hour period.

Reading... The Bell Jar with @thebooklyclub.  I listened to it on audio, per @katharinescriv's recommendation, and loved it.  Maggie Gyllenhaal reads it, and it's just so perfect. When I finished that (while painting our two bathrooms Saturday) I started The Great Believers, which is not at all about what I thought it would be about, but reminds me of Tell The Wolves I'm Home, and I am loving it.
I am also still working my way through The Most Fun We Ever Had, and making a plan for finishing Eden's Outcasts in time for book club (20 pages a day and I should make it!) and reading Fahrenheit 451 which I am supposed to do for a Buddy Read in September. So much reading, so little time!

Laughing... as a friend surprised me with a light timer so that when she drives by my house, my porch lights won't be on 24/7.  Oh Megan, I love you, you thoughtful thing!!!

Enjoying... movie night with the kids on Saturday after they worked at the land and I painted.  It was nice to take a minute and make them pizza and cookies and reconnect after a day apart.

Hosting... Josh's parents (Carol and Carl) for dinner Sunday after a crazy afternoon in the garden.  We had been out there, discussing what we didn't need/what Carol wanted from our gardening area, when Josh accidentally disturbed a ground wasp nest.  Carly, Logan and Carol ended up getting stung and two wasps even got into the house! Josh was the hero of the hour, killing the wasps that got inside, and killing the hive as well.  Whew!  What an adventure!!!  Poor Carly was so traumatized by the whole thing, she ended up falling asleep on the couch after her sting, which she kept calling a zit.  Thankfully no one was allergic.

Deciding... on new chores for the new house now that we are in our regular routine again after the move.  We've got a good rotation set up, and I think we are set up for success (and a clean house!) which is win/win if you ask me.

Blogging... to get myself caught up and hoping to stay that way now that life is back to normal.  The house is almost entirely unpacked (with only my craft stuff left to unpack) and the boys are definitely back in the school routine in the mornings and afternoons, which is such a blessing.

Eating... healthy dinners all together at the table again now that life is in a routine.  It feels really good to meal plan and grocery shop and cook for my family again.

Missing... Wyatt's dental appointment completely on Tuesday morning when it just slipped my mind and I sent him off on the bus to school.  Whoops.  Old Shelly would have called that a #momfail, but new Shelly calls that #beinghuman and I gave myself a bunch of grace about it.
Like my friend Emilia said, "Perfection is not required."
Thank God.

Writing... lists about Wyatt after worrying about him following his last cold.  He's been having headaches after school and at bedtime, and I've been wondering why & trying to narrow it down.  As my worry was just amping up, I got called to come in for an empty appointment slot to see the pulmonologist on Wednesday.  I was thrilled. They had called to cancel our last one after his doctor went on medical leave, so this was good news.
I came to the appointment with a lot of questions for this new, different pulmonologist, and she.was.amazing.  While his heart and lungs sound good, his headaches are concerning so we are going to switch his current preventative med to a different one (which scares me!) that is less likely to cause headaches.  Hopefully it will be as effective as the old one was at keeping him out the ER.  We also decided we will be doing a third sleep study, but this time at the children's hospital because she suspects he might have something called ROHHAD that can cause slower breathing/breathing issues while you sleep. We will also be doing multiple labs including a vitamin D test and thyroid tests to check his thyroid function.
When she looked in his ears she saw some odd things in his left ear, so we have to make a follow up with his primary care doc to get that flushed and checked out.  She thinks it's just sand, but we want to be sure. She also informed me that I had been doing his nebulizer wrong this whole time- I should have been doing his albuterol alone in the machine first to open his lungs, and then I should have been doing the budesonide (the inhaled steroid), so that the steroid would go deeper into the already-opened lungs.

But by far the scariest thing we talked about was the possibility that Wyatt's symptoms are caused by Cystic Fibrosis. His previous pulmonologist had mentioned CF as a possible diagnosis when he was in the PICU, and again last year, but never followed up with any testing.
When I mentioned this to the doctor we saw Wednesday, she agreed that when she sees a kid with asthma of his severity without any other symptoms (allergies, eczema) it sets off a red flag for her.  So following his appointment, a sweat test was scheduled for Monday (September 30th) in Spokane.  From there, we should know more.
I am trying to stay calm, but I have vacillated wildly between thinking for sure he has it, and thinking there's no way he does. 
It's exhausting. 
I'm exhausted. 

Thankfully Josh took the day off work and will accompany Wyatt and I to his appointment (which is over an hour from home) so I won't have to be alone.  Wyatt knows we are testing him to see if we can find the cause of his asthma, but that's the extent of what he knows.

If you're the praying type, we would sure appreciate your prayers for safe travel Monday (tomorrow) and a peaceful day together seeking these results.  Knowing our village is behind us means so much.


Making... salads for Josh's lunch everyday.  Our deal is I make his salad and he makes the bed.  It's a small kindness we each do for each other to start our days, and it never fails to make me smile when I walk into our bedroom to get dressed and see our bed made.  What a great way to start my day.  With an act of love.

Loving... the roses Josh bought me that just keep growing more beautiful. I'm going to be so sad when I have to toss them!

Driving... Ramona to the vet (she still has a bladder infection that isn't getting better. boo!) and Jack to the orthodontist all the same morning. It was a bit hectic, but we made it everywhere on time.

Boiling... eggs that my family is eating by the dozen.  It's such a great source of protein, so I hard boil 30 eggs at a time and they eat them like nobody's business!

Walking... for the first time in my new neighborhood after Wyatt's pulmonology appointment Wednesday.  I walked away from that appointment overwhelmed BIG TIME, and the walk helped me to clear my head and get some exercise, which I know helps me sleep, which I know helps keep my anxiety at bay.  Our new neighborhood is gorgeous and that walk made me excited (yet again) that we live here.  Feeling so, so blessed.

Enjoying... my day off on Thursday by unpacking and working through a migraine.  Normally I nap on Thursdays, but with my migraine the best thing to do was stay busy, so I unpacked our entire room (Josh had brought more boxes from storage that had my books in them- swoon- he knows the way to my heart) and got things a little more under control around here.

Finding... that taking care of Wyatt and his diagnoses and follow up appointments is turning into a full time job.  Between making appointments and calling doctors and pharmacies and getting his blood drawn and his flu shot... this kid isn't giving me a moment's rest this week. It makes me especially grateful that Logan is doing so well right now. (In November he will have been seizure free for a year!)

Lighting... candles in an effort to embrace fall.  I am also doing lots of reading and have allowed myself to go back to drinking one cup of coffee each morning, which is making waking up a little sweeter.  (I'm also clearing the kitchen table to eat in peace, even if the kitchen looks RIDICULOUSLY MESSY right next to me. haha!) What are you doing to love fall? I would love to hear it.

Showing... the twins the "rural Alaska" posts on the blog (by typing Rural Alaska into the search bar on the top right) and loving their reactions to different memories.  They had so many questions, and those pictures of that time in our life are so much fun to look back on.

Thankful... for sunrises and sunsets that remind me of God and how much bigger he is than everything else.

***

"I hope you remember

the times you bravely

chose to love. I hope

you remember that

when times were hard,

you found courage

to not give up."

-MHN

Gah. So good. 

While we await Wyatt's test results, 

I will bravely choose to love 

and I will have the courage to not give up. 

In the meantime, your prayers would mean the world. 

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